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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Burt Castle was built during the 16th century in
Ulster at the southern edge of the Inishowen Peninsula. Inishowen had been in
the hands of the O’Doherty Clan for more than a thousand years and Burt Castle
was only one of several castles that dotted the peninsula. It has seen its
share of conflicts, intrigue… and murder. And throughout the centuries there
have been numerous ghostly sightings, even today among the ruins.

Here is how I describe the castle in Clans and Castles,
the first book in the historical Checkmate
series—then keep reading for the stories behind the ghostly sightings:

Burt Castle rested
at the southern edge of the Inishowen Peninsula like a silent sentinel keeping
watch over the O’Doherty landholdings. It was constructed during the reign of Henry
VIII and was considered a more contemporary style than earlier Irish castles.
Built of the same limestone and rock that was found in abundance throughout
Ulster, it rose three stories above the ground and at two of its four corners
stood towers that reached another two stories before giving way to parapets
that afforded a spectacular view of the Irish countryside—and even Derry, which
was a only a few miles away.

Each wall was
between four and five feet thick, the towers dotted with perforations for
dozens of harkbus, along with larger openings for cannons.

There were two more stories below ground,
comprised of dungeons, an armory and soldiers’ barracks and offices, eventually
giving way to a stone wall that surrounded the castle and grounds, which was in
turn encircled by a mote. With Ireland’s violent history of invasion ranging
from the Vikings and Normans to the Spaniards and English—not to mention
battles between clans—it was a formidable fortress built to withstand assault.

During the 16th century when Burt Castle one of
the O’Doherty men seduced a young girl from the neighboring area—quite possibly
Derry, which was only a short distance away. The lovers met as lovers do, and
the girl gave up her heart and her body to the nobleman. Soon after, she
discovered she was pregnant but when she informed her lover, he absolved
himself from all responsibility.

She wanted marriage and all it meant for her unborn child:
legitimacy, protection and a place in the O’Doherty clan. When he refused to
marry her and turned his back on her, she became increasingly distraught. Over
the preceding century, Ireland had turned from its original pagan religions to
Catholicism and a bastard child would create a lifetime of hell for both the
mother and the child.

So on one night as the moon shone full and bright, she walked
along the shore of the Lough Swilly, eventually wading in and drowning herself
and her unborn child in its frigid waters.

Her father made a vow to avenge his daughter’s death and her
undoing by the O’Doherty kinsman and he discovered through workers at Burt
Castle exactly where her lover slept: in the vaulted, mural chamber on the
first floor near the southwest tower. On one dark, lonely night when the clouds
roiled and tumbled overhead, he tricked his way into the castle at the
southwest tower and climbed from the ground floor to the first elevated story by
way of the spiraled turnpike staircase and into the lover’s chamber where he
slept.

There, the father withdrew his long knife, sharpened for the
occasion of avenging his daughter’s death, and stabbed the O’Doherty kinsman repeatedly.
To ensure that he was beyond resuscitation, he then dragged his body to the
narrow window. Pushing it through, he tried to aim it for the craggy rocks at
the base of the castle but it fell instead on a patch of grass close to the
cold stone wall.

From that time forward, each time the moon is full, the
ghost of a young girl is seen walking the shoreline of the Lough Swilly, her
distraught wails caught on the winds and carried for miles, only fading when
the figure wades into the water and disappears under the waves.

And on those nights, the swans rise up from their positions
along the banks and fly to Burt Castle, where they begin wailing at the base of
the old southwest tower where her lover was plunged to his death, a patch that
even today grass will not grow…

Burt Castle figures prominently in Clans and Castles,
the first book in the Checkmate
series, and is haunted by more than one ghost… The book is a three-time award
nominee: 2018 International Book Awards, 2017 USA Best Book Awards and 2017
Readers Choice Awards. Click here to
read more and purchase the book with a free autograph or buy from amazon. It is
also available in all fine bookstores around the world.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

It’s shaping up to be a summer of escapism. With politics
and dysfunction dominating the news, more readers are turning to subjects that
take them as far away from Washington government as possible.

One genre very popular this summer is historical,
particularly narrative nonfiction. There is something comforting about reading
of a past era; even if they had their share of misfortune, war, strife or
hardship, we know the world kept revolving and for the most part, things turned
out and life went on. It is also a reminder that though things look bleak,
there is still hope; that life is often cyclical and though the world has
encountered extreme negative forces—such as Nazi Germany’s expansion and
takeover of much of Europe—things can turn around and positivity can prevail.
There is also something about reading of an historical figure who, faced with
few prospects at home, wandered far from where he had ever thought he would be
in order to make a better life for himself and future generations.

I encountered such a man in my own family’s genealogy, but
he is not uncommon. Anyone who has delved deep into their family history has
also uncovered men and women that went through extraordinary hardship and
achieved great things through the strength of willpower, determination and
faith—faith in themselves, in the world or in a higher power.

William Neely was born at a time in which the Lowlands of
Scotland was a desolate, deforested place. The vast majority of holdings were
by only a handful of people and even home ownership was considered out of reach
of 99% of the population. Those people did not even have time to contemplate their
circumstances because they were focused on keeping the roof over their heads (a
thatched roof that often belonged to a laird and they were granted permission
to live there in exchange for their work and rent) and food on the table. Food
was so scarce that by the time spring planting was ready to begin the decimated
cows had to be carried into the fields to be hooked up to the plows.

It was in this bleak circumstance that William was given the
opportunity to leave Scotland for Ireland. Only 20 miles across the Irish Sea,
it was a world removed; King James I was engaged in widespread colonization—even
leading to the Americas. He was offering Lowland Scots and Englishmen the
opportunity to serve him by granting land in Ireland; in return, the land
owners would pledge their loyalty to the King, fight for him if needed (and was
it ever), raise sheep to provide them with wool, and raise crops such as
potatoes to feed the English people.

When William arrived in Ulster in 1608, he came to know the
native Irish and even discovered his own family had lived in Ireland until the
13th century. In a sense, it was a homecoming. But his plans to live
peacefully, raising sheep and crops and providing a better future for his
children were soon placed in jeopardy. The land given to those loyal to King
James was not simply land for the taking; it had belonged to the Irish. With
Cahir O’Doherty, the Gaelic King of the Inishowen Peninsula, his family had
owned their land and ruled its people for more than a thousand years—which is
eight times longer than the independent existence of the United States of
America.

As colonization began under Queen Elizabeth I, several
powerful clans in Ulster were overrun by English forces, their lands decimated,
their people killed, their homes burned. Cahir O’Doherty was determined to
spare his people that fate and he joined forces with the English, agreeing to
fight for the Queen (and later King James I) in return for maintaining control
of the Inishowen Peninsula.

That would all come to an end only months after William arrived
in Ulster. Sir George Paulet, the English Governor of Derry, was a vindictive
man that despised the native Irish. Derry was situated beside O’Doherty’s
green, lush lands and Paulet tried repeatedly to confiscate them, even though
the English courts had forbidden it. Finally, Cahir had had enough. If he had
been of a lowlier status, he might have set a trap for Paulet and killed him in
the dark of night and without witnesses. But he was the last Gaelic King of
Ireland. He led hundreds of men into Derry after overrunning and confiscating
weapons at Culmore Fort, burning the village to the ground and killing Paulet.
It touched off O’Doherty’s Rebellion and William Neely would have to choose
between his oath to the king and joining the forces of a people that were
likely distant relatives.

The book I wrote of William’s adventures and O’Doherty’s
Rebellion, Checkmate: Clans and Castles,
is the first of a new historical series that chronicles the lives of the men
and women on both sides of the English-Irish conflict. It would eventually lead
to Irish independence, the Republic of Ireland as we know it today; but the
story is not yet finished. In establishing the Republic, the counties of Ulster
with the exception of County Donegal, became known as Northern Ireland and is
today part of the United Kingdom. The laws are quite remarkable still: they are
not permitted to fly the Irish flag, Catholics are still considered second- or
third-class citizens (though that has been changing) and Irish Gaelic is not spoken.
For centuries, the native Irish were not permitted to vote, could not own land
and did not have a voice in government—or their own futures.

With Brexit, however, decisions will need to be made by both
Scotland and Northern Ireland: whether to remain with England or remain in the
European Union. Only time will tell, but if Northern Ireland joins with the
Republic of Ireland through a vote that the English Parliament has said they
will honor, it will result in the first time since the late 1500’s that a
united Ireland will be truly independent from the British Empire.

Meanwhile, I am working on the rest of the series, a set of
books that take place against the backdrop of wars, famine and political,
religious and cultural strife, spanning from 1608 through the 20th
century.

Checkmate: Clans and Castles Trailer

Cloak and Mirrors

A Thin Slice of Heaven

The Tempest Murders

The White Devil of Dublin

The Official Book Trailer for Vicki's Key

About Me

I am the author of more than 18 books, including new age suspense, historical, a how-to book for authors, and computer books. "River Passage" won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award (Bengal Book Awards) and was determined to be so historically accurate, the original manuscript now resides at the Nashville Metropolitan Government Archives for future researchers and historians. Vicki's Key, the second book in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, was a 2012 International Book Awards finalist and a 2012 USA Best Book Awards nominee. Visit my web site at www.pmterrell.com and take a peek at my historical work at www.pmterrell.com/maryneely. Contact me through my web site at www.pmterrell.com.